It isn’t the first time that 4Chan has gone down and it won’t be the last, but this one is special. There were 3 consecutive days with very little uptime, something that the photo-sharing, meme-creating website has never experienced.  A massive DDoS is to blame. For it to keep the site down for this long, a site that is accustomed to supporting 1.6 million visitors a day, “massive” might be an understatement. It comes as founder Moot prepared to turn the site’s community support towards American Censorship Day. The site was back up just in time to assist with the protest….

The term “firewall” has one that most people know but few understand. It’s often confused with anti-virus software because of the similarities of purpose, but it has a completely different use on your computer. This infographic by ZoneAlarm breaks it down nicely for us (while throwing in a quick pitch about their product). Knowing what they do and why they’re important can help you understand how to better protect your computer from the more nefarious types on the internet. Click to enlarge. …

Everyone has heard of hackers, viruses, and spam. What fewer people have heard of or understand are botnets despite statistics that show they’re trending to be the choice of current cybercriminals. By using “Command-and-Control” servers, hackers are able to remotely take over computers to execute their nefarious activities. Connecting through C&C servers allows a “bot herder” is able to send out spam emails, spread viruses, distribute malicious software, and steal identities. Nearly 90% of all email spam is sent through botnets – and that’s not their biggest threat. This infographic…

US Predator and Reaper drones in Afghanistan were hacked and a virus inserted into their remote cockpits at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, logging every keystroke their pilots make. These remote drones, arguably the most pivotal piece of American war efforts in Afghanistan over the last 10 years, have continued to fly missions even though the threat was first detected two weeks ago. There is no indication that sensitive or classified data was retrieved as a result of the virus, but it continues to pose a problem. “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with…

Phishers and hackers have found that social media is a great place to plant links to malicious websites as unsuspecting people click through and get infected or give their information. Now, Facebook is changing that by checking every outbound link through a system designed by security firm Websense. “Facebook is a big target for criminals online,” said Spencer Parker of Websense. Sites like Google have taken reports and filtered links for a while, but Facebook is taking it a step further by sending a test “visitor” to every link posted to look for Trojans, phishing activity, botnets and viruses….

With over 12 million monthly visitors, word must get out to keep people from going to MySQL(dot)com until they get things sorted out. This isn’t a minor annoyance. The exploits inserted by the hackers are extremely malicious and work in the background. There is no need to click on or accept anything. Simply visiting the site can cause major permanent damage to your hard drive and currently only 6 out of the 43 major malware protection services are even able to detect it. The administrative access to perform the hack and inject the exploits, known as the BlackHole Exploit Pack, was sold through a hacker…

With wars and battle zones popping up across the world, the security and defense industries have been booming over the last two decades. Building stronger, lighter protective shielding is big business and the winners can make huge money. That is the hope of Texas Armoring Corporation and the reason they made this viral video of the CEO literally standing (well, sitting) behind his product. Trent Kimball, President and CEO of Texas Armoring Corporation, enters the screen and declares, “Today, I will redefine what it means to stand behind my product.” Shortly after, one of his employees comes…

As mobile technology continues to become more prevalent in use and present in our hands, so too do the “bad guys” make gains in skill and tools. As such the recent malware report (PDF) released last week by McAfee showed a 22% increase in malware over the same period last year. Android was hardest hit with malicious software disguised as legitimate apps. The attacks are getting more sophisticated as well, finding exploits through downloads of common apps with hard-to-detect holes that open up for more malware to be downloaded behind the scenes. Much of this can be blamed on Google’s “less rigorous…

They are the keys we use to get to some of the most important parts of our online lives. Email, bank accounts, social networks, work applications – there are so many things that are password protected an a lot of people simply do not pay proper attention to making them secure. This infographic by ZoneAlarm breaks down some tips on how to make a secure password for daily use. Click to enlarge. …

The science behind hacking passwords has evolved much faster than the passwords themselves. While many websites and programs set limits on password-attempts that make brute-force attacks impossible, there are plenty of sites that do not. With many people using the same password for multiple sites and profiles, they don’t necessarily have to hack everything. They just need to find the weakest link. The cartoon above by XKCD brilliantly and simply explains why long passwords with common random words are much more effective than the standard 1 capital letter, 1 number, 1 symbol, 8-12 character-long…